


I've Always Liked the Fireworks

by QuickedWeen



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Liam Payne, Alpha Louis, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Art Exhibit, Fluff, Football, Football Player Louis, M/M, Museums, No Smut, Omega Harry, Photographer Harry, Proving Day, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-13 17:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13575552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickedWeen/pseuds/QuickedWeen
Summary: When alphas and omegas reach the age of twenty-one they are required to attend a Proving Day ceremony. Omegas watch as alphas do their best to compete in events, show off their skills, and prove how good a mate they can really be.The whole thing is a bit ridiculous, but Louis Tomlinson has always dreamed of finding his mate. He's got two unsuccessful Sheffield Proving Days under his belt and decides to go for the much more competitive one in Manchester. His goal is to play his best, leave it all out on the pitch, and hope that one of the omegas watching just happens to be his mate.





	I've Always Liked the Fireworks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FallingLikeThis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingLikeThis/gifts).



> Your prompts were great! I hope you enjoy it.

The key slipped cleanly into the lock and Louis sent up a silent prayer of thanks. He could hear Lottie chatting on the phone behind him, but wasn’t paying much attention to what she was saying.

The flat where they were staying in Manchester was on the first floor, so Louis started climbing the stairs, not bothering to check whether or not Lottie was following him. He was sure she would eventually. He rolled his eyes at her but was secretly pleased that she had found Tommy. She would never have to go through any of the Proving rituals as an unmated omega, and for that, he was eternally grateful.

She and Tommy wouldn’t be able to mate until she was twenty-one according to law, but Tommy had said many times that he was more than willing to wait for her. He was a few years older and would reach the milestone first.

Louis was also grateful for his mum, who had a very modern view of the world and let the young lovebirds be together despite their inability to officially mate and bond.

As Louis pulled out the second key, this time for the door of the flat itself, he bit back the lump in his throat. He always thought his mum would be there if and when one of these stupid rituals was successful. She had come to his first Proving Day, but now he was on his third, and she was home with his youngest siblings; baby twins born the year before. Louis sighed. He had a long weekend ahead of him, and it didn’t do him any good to get emotional beforehand.

Lottie finally hung up her call as they entered the flat. It was actually quite nice, all brick walls and modern finishings. The air of luxury was marred a bit by how small it was, but it felt homey.

His sister immediately fell in love with the feminine wrought iron bed frame in one of the rooms, so Louis put his bags down in the other. He hung up the garment bag with his nicer clothes in the room’s closet and opened it up to make sure nothing was wrinkled beyond repair.

Somewhat settled, Louis pulled out his laptop and the instructions the AirBnB owner left them for connecting to the WiFi. The password took a few tries, but eventually, he was connected and ready to go. He immediately brought up the email with his Proving Day confirmation, and all of the registration information he would need the next day.

Proving Day was an old tradition between alphas and omegas wherein the alphas would do their best to show off for the omegas all day in order to prove their worth as a mate. If an alpha or omega was still unmated by the time they were twenty-one, it was compulsory.

The tradition was completely archaic, and efforts _had_ been made to bring it into the twenty-first century by raising the age some point from eighteen to twenty-one. The focus of the events also used to be surviving in the wilderness - things like hunting, fishing, etc. - but that had been back in the nineteenth century. Now, it was still based in athletic contests, but more modern ones like football and rugby.

While he wasn’t the typical alpha by a long shot - too short and lean - Louis enjoyed the more athletic contests, but he was picky. He didn’t think he could ever be truly happy with an omega who showed up to a Proving Day, saw him on the pitch, and said “Yes, him. That’s the one.”

Louis had always loved the idea of finding his true mate, though. Not everyone did, but Louis had always strived for the best. And he thought it was a bit romantic, too. The idea of a true mate. But he was never going to find them sitting on his arse.

His very first Proving Day in Sheffield was exciting, but all of the unmated omegas there were the people he had grown up with, so they all knew each other. It wasn’t hugely successful, but it was nice for him to get one under his belt at least. Now he knew how they worked. Last year he had done the Sheffield one again, hoping that the new omegas coming in who had turned twenty-one over the course of the year would provide someone new and interesting, but it was just more of the same.

Louis had the added difficulty of being attracted to male omegas. He couldn’t help it. His whole life he had considered himself open to any gender, just desperate to find the right person for him, but then when he really sat down and thought about it, he couldn’t see himself with a female omega. Of course, male omegas were ten times rarer than female omegas.

His mother had suggested he register for the much larger Proving Day ceremony in Manchester this year early enough that he agreed. Manchester’s ceremonies were much more varied and complicated than the ones he was used to in Sheffield.

Louis’ main event that he usually chose to compete in was football. Football had always been his best athletic event growing up, so he thought he had the best chance of actually impressing an omega doing that. He had a few back-ups, could play rugby in a pinch, but football was where his heart was.

Unfortunately, this was England, and Proving Day was a large event for alphas in their early twenties in a major football city. He hadn’t anticipated the football event being as popular as it apparently was, even though he really should have. There was a maximum of forty-four alphas that could participate in the football event - the idea being that there were eleven players on each side and two halves of the game.

There had been a tournament two weeks before and the best alphas were chosen for the spread. Louis played midfield and had done quite well. He had laughed when wannabe striker after striker had been cut. Not everyone could be Ronaldo, but they were alphas. The real knotheads always thought they were God’s gift to football. Louis kept his snickers to himself, put his head down, and played hard.

Over the course of the tournament, he had gotten to know one of the goalies, an alpha named Liam. There were only four goalie slots, but Liam had done really well in all of the tryouts and exhibition games over the course of the weekend, so he had been given one of the slots. Louis had done his best to request that they end up on the same spread, but he didn’t want to push his luck.

Louis was rereading the information about reporting to the venue bright and early tomorrow when Lottie knocked on his door.

“I’m ready, Lou,” she said.

Louis looked up from his screen. She was his oldest sister, and even though she was still only sixteen, he was thankful for the moral support she provided. He could have come on his own, but he would have been a nervous wreck. With her here, he had a distraction.

“Know where you want to go for dinner?” he asked, closing out of the Proving Day site.

“I found a pub nearby, but,” she drew out the last syllable and Louis could sense a trap, “Best Brother in the Whole World?” Definitely a trap.

“Spit it out, Lotts.” Louis was pretending to put up a fight, but he absolutely would agree to anything she wanted after she had agreed to come with him this weekend.

“There’s a photography exhibit I would really love to see. The museum closes in about an hour, but it’s only a few streets away and we should be able to make it on time.”

Louis stared at her blankly for a moment before he broke, and grinned. “Yeah, of course, love. Not a problem.”

Her eyes lit up, “Thanks, Lou! It’s Harry Styles, he’s this big new fashion photographer and he’s everywhere right now.”

“Everywhere, huh?” Louis asked absentmindedly as he dug through his things to try and find his wallet and both keys to the flat to make sure they had everything.

“Everywhere!” She started telling him all about this Harry Styles and why he was such a gift to the fashion world and all the editorials he had done in Vogue and Elle. Louis swore she didn’t take a breath the entire walk to the museum and he was beginning to get a little worried.

He paid for their admission, and they made their way to the special exhibit gallery. It wasn’t the biggest gallery at the museum, but it was big enough that this Harry person had to have a fair number of pieces up. The way Lottie explained the exhibit was that it was mostly Harry Styles’ work, but there were some other photographers mixed in for interest.

When they finally pushed through the heavy double glass doors, Lottie looked like she might faint of excitement.

“Do you think he’s an alpha, Lou?” Lottie asked him, breathless with wonder as her eyes darted around the gallery.

“Not sure. Why do you ask, Lotts? Going to throw off Tommy?” He teased. Lottie gave him a little shove.

“No, I just mean he’s gotten so successful so quickly. Surely he must be an alpha with that kind of ambition.” Lottie hooked her arm in Louis’ and started leading him to the first large painting mounted on the wall of the gallery.

Louis had a whole lecture ready to go about how being an alpha didn’t necessarily mean success, and omegas could be just as successful. They should be equally successful, and just because society sucked didn’t mean she should doubt her ability. He never got the chance to say any of that though, because he was mesmerized by the photograph in front of him.

The majority of the picture was jet black, but the model in the center of the frame was haloed by the thinnest barely there outline of white light. The model looked contemplative, but Louis could barely see his face - half of it was drenched in shadow - but what he could see was the amazing delicate texture of the suede jacket that the model was wearing. The jacket was a medium tone, and the details would have been lost against a stark white background. Here though, the way it was presented, was striking.

“It’s so beautiful,” Lottie whispered.

“Yeah,” Louis agreed. He wished he was more eloquent, wished he could talk about the photographs the same way that Lottie could, but really he was just blown away. Photograph after photograph, Louis had never seen anything like it before.

When they were done, Louis bought the overpriced bound book about the exhibit, which had a short paragraph outlining the biography of the artist but no picture. Lottie teased him the entire walk back to the pub.

Louis decided not to have a pint given how early he had to wake up the next morning, but he did risk further teasing by asking lots of questions about fashion photography. He didn’t understand much of it, but Lottie was patient with him.

Lottie and her photography exhibit had proven to be exactly the distraction he needed to keep his mind off the Proving Day ceremonies and his nerves, but as soon as they were back in their rented flat, they hit him again.

He wasn’t even sure why he was nervous, there wasn’t anything he could really do but his best. If an omega liked him, they liked him. In the old days that meant the pair would immediately begin courting. Now, though, they had a mixer in the evening to encourage mingling. It took away some of the literal distance between the alphas and omegas and allowed them to develop their courtships naturally.

Some of Louis’ friends were jaded about Proving Days like he was a bit, but they also either already had mates or lacked the ability to see even the slightest hint of romance about it. Louis was grateful that he had kept a bit of that hopefulness.

At the end of the day, all he really wanted was a mate that could love him as he was - not the typical alpha - and could challenge him. He wanted a mate who had their own life that could fit together with his. The thought of having an omega whose life was completely dependent on his as “the Alpha” scared him. Someone like that wouldn’t, couldn’t, make him happy; Louis knew himself, he wouldn’t think twice about taking on the weight of his mate’s life as well and the pressure would undoubtedly suffocate him.

It wasn’t any wonder that he was considered picky about his mate. There had been a few implications of interest in courtship over the past few years, but nothing had gone anywhere.

Louis heaved a sigh and plugged his phone in, setting his alarm for right around sunrise. He shut off the light and pulled the covers over his shoulder. Maybe tomorrow would be the day.

 

Oddly enough, when Louis woke up the next morning, all he was thinking about was his office. He had gotten his business degree and was working in marketing in Sheffield. There was really no reason for him to be thinking about work on what could possibly be the most important day of his life, but there he was.

He wasn’t even thinking about anything in particular. Tasks he needed to get done, briefs he needed to write. Nothing groundbreaking.

A very groggy Lottie got up with him and made them tea as Louis showered and made sure his kit was packed. She poured the tea out into two travel mugs and they locked the flat up behind them.

Lottie and Tommy would be coming to the ceremony as bystanders to watch the game. There was a separate section in the stands for family and friends that weren’t eligible to attend the game, and Tommy attending with Lottie was one of his and his mum’s requirements for the weekend. Louis didn’t think any of the alphas would be total uncontrollable knotheads, but he didn’t exactly want to risk his unmated little sister wandering around the arena by herself while he was occupied.

They got in the Uber and Lottie was uncharacteristically quiet, so Louis reached over and took her hand in his.

“What are you looking for?” she asked quietly.

“What do you mean?” he asked. He knew what she meant.

“It’s taken you awhile to find a mate, Lou, I’m just wondering what it is you’re looking for.” Her tone wasn’t accusatory, but it held the color of someone who was young and knew exactly what she wanted. It was the tone of someone who had never known what it felt like to have a piece of themselves missing, and wanting nothing more than to fill it, but not knowing how.

His inner alpha was calling out for someone to love, to dote on, to support in life, to be with.

“I’ll know it when I see it,” he replied.

“That doesn’t leave me much room to help you find someone,” she joked, nudging him with her elbow. Louis smiled at her before looking down at his phone and double checking the registration information for the millionth time.

He had a text from Liam saying he was already there in the locker room. Of course he was. Liam also said he had checked the spread and they were playing on the same team in the same half. Small miracles.

Louis saw a kindred spirit in Liam; they were looking for partners, not trophy omegas. Liam had the body of a typical alpha, but he was too much of a softy on the inside. They hadn’t actually spoken about their preferences in a mate, which was ironic given how they had become friends. That was always the question everyone asked at these types of events: “What are you looking for?”

Louis wished he knew.

 

The athletic complex was complete chaos. There were so many alpha scents everywhere, Louis was getting a little overwhelmed; he couldn’t imagine how the omegas were feeling.

“Ugh it stinks in here,” Lottie said through her scrunched up nose. They were waiting at the entrance where Tommy would meet them. Lottie had been complaining about how stupid it was that she had to be handed off from alpha to alpha, but once they got inside the building she realized why. “Too much alpha.”

“I’ve always wondered, do omegas like that? Or is it a bad thing?” Louis asked.

Lottie sniffed the air again, “It’s more like when you have too much of a good thing, so it starts to get all muddled and you can’t really discern any one scent.”

Louis nodded and went back to people watching - or alpha watching, as most omegas didn’t have to be there until the actual events themselves started in a few hours.

There was just so much ridiculous posturing. All of these huge knotheads wandering around with their joggers hanging off their hips, duffles slung over their shoulder. Occasionally, one of them would take a sidelong glance at Lottie and Louis would have to snarl at them to warn them off.

It was like he had walked into the building and become the animal instinct driven alpha of the old days. The kind that he hated.

“It’s alright, Lou. They’re just curious,” she said reassuringly. Louis didn’t relax until Tommy took Lottie’s hand and led her out the front door to take her away - far away - from the building. They were going on a brunch date while Louis went through the registration and warm up process before the game started at noon.

Louis rubbed his hand over his face and shook off the nerves that had come back to life, intent on figuring out just where he needed to go.

The corridor smelled like too many alphas packed in a sardine can with all of their sweaty gym socks. Louis was losing his sense of romanticism bit by bit. It was tough to think of any of this as appealing for the omegas coming to watch them, but it had to at least work a little, or people would stop insisting that it happened.

When he reached the registration table there was a cute blonde omega behind the desk. “Name?” She looked up at him cheerfully, and he could smell that she was mated - her pheromones were less than half the strength of her unmated counterparts.

“Tomlinson, Louis.” He smiled at her.

“Thanks, love. Let me just grab your stuff.” Her name tag said Perrie, and Louis watched as she made her way down the back counter where all of the welcome packets were. She held her hand out and it brushed across the shoulders of another woman farther down the desk. _That must be her alpha,_ Louis thought to himself as the women shared an intimate look.

They were acting like they were newly bonded, and Louis wouldn’t be surprised.

When Perrie returned, Louis couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “New bond?” he asked.

Perrie smiled at him serenely, “Yeah, she’s wonderful,” she sighed as she looked down the table at the alpha with the long fiery burgundy hair.

The women both looked as though they were over twenty-one, so he had to ask; “Did you meet here?”

“Yeah, watched her sing and dance in the show and I was hooked,” Perrie leaned in and told Louis conspiratorially. Louis looked down the table at the other alpha again, and could practically feel the iciness from her glare.

Louis leaned back quickly and winked at Perrie, “She’s a little territorial, that one,” he joked. Perrie laughed and opened his welcome packet to explain how the process would work.

In reality, Louis’ spirits had lifted after his general unease about the event. It was nice to see a real life couple in front of him that had successfully found a mate through Proving Day. He was still nervous about the day, but something in his chest unclenched a bit.

“The football locker rooms are just down that hall there, your side is in number eleven,” Perrie explained pointing with her delicately manicured fingers.

Louis nodded, “Thanks, love.”

He shifted his footie bag higher on his shoulder and set off down the hall. When he reached the locker room, he pushed the door open and the heavy stench of posturing alphas got thicker. Louis’ relatively dormant instincts were on high alert, wanting to protect himself against the phantom other alphas that were invading his territory. The strength of his instincts were directly related to how thick the scent was, and he had never felt such an immediate response.

The locker room was fairly typical with cubbies lining the sides of three of the walls and showers and toilets off in a separate room.

There were a few alphas in the room already, guys Louis recognized from the tryouts and, thankfully, one of them was Liam. They all turned to look at Louis when he entered, hackles raised, but the tension relaxed a bit when they recognized him in turn.

Liam smiled and waved at him before pulling his jersey over his head. There was a simple clothing rack in the center of the room with the rest of the team’s kits hanging, and Louis went straight for the smallest one, assuming it was his own. He double checked that it had his name on it before taking it down off the rack and heading to the cubby next to Liam’s.

Normal footie kits just had players’ names on the front, but because identity was so important on Proving Day, Louis noticed that his name was printed in larger letters on the back, smaller letters on the front, and his shorts had his initials on them as well.

He had wondered how omegas would choose from a footie game with so many players, but that answered _that_ question, he thought. Back when he was first starting the process, he had also wondered if the omegas would have a program or something with alphas names and pictures to help as well, but he read somewhere that the administrators didn’t want that information to “sway any decision.” Because God forbid omegas choose an alpha based on shared intellectual interests, not just lust and pheromones.

His games in the Sheffield Proving Days had been much different because it was a smaller pool of potential mates and they all had grown up with each other, so it was a little less formal than the Manchester process.

“Hey, Louis.” Liam had sat down in his cubby and was putting on his shin guards.

“Hey, mate. You alright?”

“Yeah, good,” Liam replied with a smile. Louis could tell how excited Liam was, it had bled into his smell and was coming off him in waves.

Liam drew in a breath to continue their small talk, but as he did one of the three alphas across the room addressed them; “You hear who’s supposed to show up?”

Both Liam and Louis paused, having not expected to be addressed.

“Nah, mate, what do you mean?” Louis asked.

“One of the omegas today. Supposed to be somebody big time.” The guy shrugged.

Louis was intrigued. “Do you know who?”

“A famous artist or something? Don’t know too much. My sister is an O and was going on and on about it this morning. Wants to meet him if she can figure out what event he’s going to watch.” He lifted his foot up onto the bench of the cubby to tie his boot and kept talking to his friend, switching topics back to the match, but Louis had stopped listening.

He. The other alpha had said “he,” which meant there was going to be at least one male omega. That was definitely a good sign. There was always the possibility that there wouldn’t be any, given how much rarer they were, and the odds were much better in a larger city’s Proving Day, but any kind of confirmation was nice.

“I’ve never been to a Proving here before, are there usually a lot of male O’s?” Louis hated using the shortened nickname for them with the level of disrespect that it carried, but he didn’t want to seem too eager. Wanted to blend in with the lads a bit - having a preference for male omegas wasn’t very common.

The alpha thought about it for a moment and Louis waited with bated breath, “A few I guess. Not a ton, but there are usually some.”

Louis relaxed even more. Granted, the choosing wasn’t up to him, it was up to the omegas, but the fact that there were men who would be able to choose him made him feel a bit better.

“They’re not my favorite, personally, but I wouldn’t mind if my O was rich and famous. I could definitely put up with a cock for that.” The alpha put both his feet back on the floor and jumped around a bit shaking out his muscles now that he was fully dressed. His friends laughed and punched him on the shoulder.

The way he spoke put a bitter taste in Louis’ mouth, and he did his best not to roll his eyes, but he could see Liam having the same issue. They both made eye contact to acknowledge it before going back to what they were doing.

Louis grimaced before turning back to the other alpha. “Do you know his name?” he called across the room, not wanting to encourage the literal locker room talk, but still wanting to find out any morsel of information about a male omega.

“Styles something or other. I don’t know, I tune out when she starts jabbering like that,” the other alpha replied.

Louis’ heartbeat picked up. Styles? Artist? Surely it couldn’t be Harry Styles.

“Harry Styles?” Louis asked, tone slightly more urgent. What were the odds that the artist Louis had been admiring was here, and on top of that, an unmated male omega?

The other alpha shrugged. “Maybe. All I know is he’s got lots of money and odds are he’ll be watching football, so be sure to pass me the ball a bunch, middie.” He slapped Louis on the shoulder and jostled him a bit.

He and his friends turned to walk out towards the pitch to get a head start on warm-ups even though the rest of the team wasn’t there yet. Liam and Louis were left alone in the locker room.

“Who were you talking about?” Liam asked him, leaning up against the side of the cubby as he waited for Louis to tie up his boots.

It was Louis’ turn to play indifferent even though he felt anything but; “Photographer that my sister wanted to go see last night when we got into town. Thought he must be an alpha, though, with how successful he’s gotten.”

He left out how Harry’s photographs were so moving that he felt them in his very soul. Left out how he was fascinated by the kind of person Harry must be to be a male omega who climbed his way to the top of his discipline enough that he was being featured in a major museum.

“And he’s here?” Liam asked, skeptically. “Must be pretty young to be at a Proving Day.”

“Not necessarily if he’s an omega. It’s his choice, so he could have just not chosen anyone in past years, but I think he is still pretty young.” Louis hoped that he hadn’t chosen anyone. Hoped that this wasn’t a formality for him and that he didn’t already have an alpha waiting in the wings.

Louis finished lacing up his boots and stood up to make sure his kit was comfortable before turning to Liam. “Ready to do this?”

Liam smiled and nodded, but Louis could see the traces of nerves lingering around the corners of his eyes. They made their way out of the locker room, down the long corridors following the signs for the football pitch, and headed out into the indoor arena.

Half of their team was already beginning to warm-up, most the guys that had been in the locker room along with a few others, but what Louis was really interested in was the stands. There were a few omegas already sitting in their specific section. They were perfectly nice looking girls, too far away for their scents to reach the players, but not so far that both spectators and players couldn’t check each other out.

He was excited for the rest of the omegas to get there; he couldn’t wait to see how many there were. Football, as they reminded him many times over the course of the selection process, was the most popular event, so he had high hopes.

As they continued to warm up, he did a few drills with some of his teammates, then they split up to take shots on Liam and the other goalie. Louis tried to ignore the stands, wanting to wait until he was fully warmed up to look at them again to see just how many omegas would be in the audience.

One of the mated coaches said that last year there was somewhere around two hundred. Louis swallowed back the nerves that threatened to rise up out of his gut. Two hundred omegas. No big deal. Two hundred, and it was possible that one of them was his mate.

He tried to tamp down that kind of thinking as quickly as possible. It would be of no help to him, would just make him even more nervous. Instead, he concentrated on the way his heart pounded as he lightly jogged up and down the pitch.

Thirty minutes later the coach blew his whistle to bring them all in. The benches were directly across from the stands so that the omegas could watch the alphas, even when they weren’t playing, so Louis continued to avoid looking up at them. Family and friends of the alphas playing, like Lottie and Tommy, were seated in the stands just behind the players’ benches. Louis was about halfway in when he felt Liam come up behind him and clap him on the shoulder.

“That’s a hell of a lot of omegas,” Liam said with a mix of awe and terror. “Glad there’s a barrier, I’m sure we would all slip into our ruts if we stood in the middle of them.”

“Really?” Louis asked, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Liam’s smile dropped a bit and he looked at Louis, confused. “Yeah, have you not noticed?”

Louis shook his head, “Didn’t want to get too nervous.”

With a nod of understanding Liam shrugged, “Well, I’ve ruined the surprise now, so you may as well.” As they approached the bench and waited for the rest of their teammates, Louis took a few deep breaths before turning around to look at the stands.

The section had definitely filled up. The sun was streaming down from behind Louis, illuminating all of the omegas, and from what he could see, he was a little bit… disappointed. There just weren’t that many male omegas, which was a shame. His entire journey through tryouts and nervousness, making the journey, finding a place to stay... now he wasn’t even sure it was worth it.

With a heavy sigh, he turned his attention to the coaches who were talking about the logistics of switching teams at halftime. Liam and Louis were on Team B of A, B, C and D. Forty-four alphas.

When the huddle broke and teams A and C took the field, Louis sat down on the hard metal bench and leaned back against the wall, trying not to let the disappointment seep into his motivation. He still needed to play.

“You look like someone’s kicked your puppy,” Liam murmured to Louis when he was sure there weren’t any other alphas in the vicinity. Playing on a team for this event was tricky because all of the players were trying to win, but ultimately they wanted to show themselves off, stand out above the rest. A teammate could use a weakness against him in order to look more impressive, and it really didn’t have any consequences. Louis knew Liam wasn’t like that, but others with prying ears could be.

Louis grunted in response and shrugged. Liam dropped the subject and leaned back to match Louis’ posture.

As the players for the first half took their positions, Louis began to catalogue each of the dozen or so male omegas in the crowd. They were perfectly fine omegas, from what he could tell at such a distance. Actually, they were perfect omegas: attractive, sitting quietly, watching with rapt attention at what was happening on the pitch, which was probably part of the problem. Louis knew that kind of thinking was backward, but he couldn’t help it.

He was looking for an omega that had _more_. Something intangible. Louis scoffed at himself. With that kind of thinking he would never find a mate.

Choosing, at the end of the day, went both ways. There was a specific Proving Day app, and omegas would be able to find the alpha they were interested in by using their official picture and filling up their digital ballot with about ten alphas, Louis thought. He couldn’t remember.

Alphas would be sent a message for each omega that chose them, and then they could agree to meet them or not. For safety, no extra personal information was shared until after everyone met at the mixer.

Louis dreaded checking his phone after the match.

The whistle from the referee blew and the match began, but before it could get very far into the gameplay, something caught Louis’ eye.

Two figures were emerging from the tunnels under the omega stands that led to the rest of the arena to stand right at the edge of the pitch. Fashionably late, that was interesting. Louis thought that for a popular event such as football, late seating was strictly against the rules.

Even from this far away he could see that the first man was incredibly beautiful. He was a bit shorter than the other, his raven hair molded up into a quiff. His features were a bit muddled, but he had a strong brow and olive skin that warmed under the midday sun.

He didn’t have the same excited countenance that the rest of the omegas in the stands did. Instead, his expression was completely blank.

The second figure came up behind him and Louis felt his heart stop. There was the most beautiful man he had ever seen in his life. His hair swooped up off his forehead a bit before falling down in loose ringlets to just brush his shoulders. He was wearing what could only be described as a blouse that was almost completely unbuttoned down to the center of his chest. His long legs were squeezed into black skinny jeans with rips at the knees - the barrier covered him from that point on. One of his forearms was clearly covered in a few tattoos, and there were large silver rings on his fingers. He looked nothing like a modest, well-behaved omega, and Louis was completely entranced.

Louis was aware and tried to prevent himself from judging this omega based on his appearance, but the man genuinely looked disgruntled, like he had swallowed a bug, and Louis thought it was _adorable_.

An usher found them and tapped the raven-haired omega on the shoulder to catch his attention before leading them to a small empty section to their left in the very first row behind the barrier. Right up front.

They must be VIPs of some kind, Louis thought.

Alpha players on the pitch flew through the foreground of Louis’ vision as he tried to get a better look at the two omegas. They had caused quite a stir with the other players on the bench as well, many now sitting up craning their necks to get a good look at the bordering on insubordinately late front row omegas.

As the omegas were settling into their seats, the raven-haired leader slung a backpack that Louis hadn’t noticed yet off of his shoulder, placing it on one of the seats next to him. He dug out a few cans of La Croix and handed one to his gorgeous companion. The companion, on the other hand, had completely disregarded the game happening directly in front of him, choosing instead to prop his feet up on the barrier, stretching out his mile-long legs and pull out his phone to begin texting rapidly.

While Louis was disappointed in the omega’s lack of interest in the proceedings, he was secretly glad because it offered him the chance to study the man without risking being labeled a creep.

Louis studied him all through the first half of the match, watched his changing facial expressions as he played on his phone. He couldn’t make out very distinct facial features given the distance, but he could read his body language.

Every so often the other omega - who was actually paying attention to the match - would give him a nudge and say something. The disgruntled omega would look around, maybe watch for the length of an entire play, then go back to his phone.

“He’s so beautiful,” Liam gasped out twenty minutes into the first half. Pain lanced through Louis as he followed Liam’s stare to where the two omegas were seated. “Have you ever seen a person that beautiful before?”

Louis swallowed around the lump in his throat. “No. No, I haven’t.”

Just then, the bored omega looked up and caught Louis’ gaze. They were locked in a battle of eye contact that was so intense, Louis could barely breathe. Finally, the raven-haired omega nudged him again, and their staring contest was broken.

Sweat gathered around Louis’ hairline as he let the muscles in his body relax, and he shook his head at himself. This was ridiculous. He could barely even see the omega from where he was sitting. They did not just have a staring contest.

The whistle blew for the end of injury time signaling the end of the first half. Louis had no idea what the score was, but it didn’t much matter after all.

Louis and Liam stood up to get themselves warmed up again. Halfway through the half, the teams would switch sides of the pitch in order to allow all of the alphas their own chance at being paraded in front of the omegas.

Louis was glad he was getting the chance to start on the side where he could be closer to the omegas when he was fresh and ready to go. He made his way across the pitch to take his position and waited for the referees to blow the whistle.

He did his best to ignore the stares of the omegas in the stands, but once he was aware of them, it was a difficult feeling to shake. Louis had never felt quite so scrutinized before. He had been through it in Sheffield of course but it always was a lot fewer people.

Standing with his hands on his hips he glanced over at the two VIP omegas from earlier, unable to resist for a moment longer now that he was less than twenty feet away from them.

When he did look, he caught the stare of the angel on earth omega again. His ringlets were blowing a bit in the breeze and he was watching Louis, raking his eyes up and down Louis’ body. Louis could feel the trail of his gaze like a physical touch. His heartbeat picked up again, and with the blood rushing in his ears he almost missed the start of the half.

The whistle pierced his consciousness and he put his mind to why he was there. If there was even the slightest chance that this omega had any interest in him at all, he was going to play as hard as he could, show off to the best of his ability, lay it all out there on the pitch.

He did play hard, but clean. No unnecessary roughness or anything from him the entire game. If he was with his mates or playing in a more professional, team-driven setting he would have been a bit more physical with his game. As it stood, he didn’t want to come across as the alpha dick that many of his competitors were.

Unfortunately, that meant that one of the show-off strikers got a little too rough with him towards the end of the game. Louis was already lamenting how he had to switch sides and play the wing farther away from the omega, and it had distracted him a bit. Enough that he wasn’t paying attention when another player came barrelling towards him, tackling and knocking the wind out of him.

Louis lay on the ground for an extra moment with his bruised pride, cursing the idiots around him. He wasn’t so macabre to dismiss his chances with the omega just from one tackle, but it didn’t make him look great.

They were close enough to the goal that Liam stepped out to help him up, and Louis couldn’t help the impulse to glance over at the omega, who was looking at him with concern. Louis was still trying to get his breath back in his lungs a bit, but the omega was paying more attention to him in that moment than he had anything else since the event began. Louis knew. He had been watching.

He watched now as the omega’s gaze traveled back up his body, presumably to make sure he wasn’t injured before the made eye contact for the second time that day.

The concern was still etched in his brow and Louis wanted to run and vault over the barrier to make sure the omega knew that he was okay, but he held himself back - that would have been wildly inappropriate and also definitely against the rules. Instead, he gave the omega a small smile and a nod to indicate that he was, in fact, okay.

The omega looked startled, but slowly his face relaxed and he gave a slight nod in return before leaning back in his seat once again, propping his feet back up on the barrier and feigning nonchalance.

Warmth emanated through Louis’ chest, and he played the last ten minutes of the match in a daze. This time he knew that the connection between him and this omega could not have been imagined.

 

Two hours later, Louis emerged from his borrowed shower in the AirBnB. He grabbed one of the towels and ran it through his hair a couple times before wrapping it around his waist. He stopped in front of the unnaturally large mirror in the hall and catalogued his bruises from the game that afternoon. There were a few minor ones, plus one big one right below his ribs where the other alpha had fouled him.

He spent some extra time grooming tonight, just in case, but he wasn’t holding his breath that the omega he had seen - and connected with - would be attending the party tonight. It was something of a mixer for all of the unmated participants, the chance for the alphas and omegas to finally meet face to face and complete the matches made on their apps.

Louis had checked his messages on the app periodically all evening but still hadn’t seen one from anyone who remotely resembled the omega earlier. He did have a lot of messages, though, which was a nice stroke to his ego. Most of them were women, one or two of the men, but again, they weren’t from the omega he really wanted.

He hadn’t let his hopes get away with themselves about tonight. If the omega had been that bored and relatively uninterested during the actual event, Louis couldn’t imagine he would come to the slightly less mandatory mixer.

Lottie knocked on the door of Louis’ room just as he was buttoning up his dress shirt.

“Hey, Lou,” she said softly before collapsing on his bed. Louis was glad she was there because she had a much better eye for clothes and fashion than he did. He didn’t bring much to work with from home, but the omega earlier had been so incredibly stylish in a way that made it look as though he hadn’t put any effort into it. Louis was having trouble breathing as he tightened up his tie.

He gulped. “Hey, Lots.”

Lottie continued to tap away at her phone - to Tommy no doubt - as Louis struggled.

“Do you want my advice?” she asked while she studied his choices. He caught her eye in the reflection of the mirror in front of him.

“Please,” he begged.

“Lose the tie,” she said quickly.

“It’s supposed to be formal, Lottie.”

His sister made a face at him, “When have you ever cared about following the rules before?”

Louis didn’t respond, but he could feel the blush rising on his cheeks. His sister knew him too well and a moment later she gasped.

“You met someone!” She pointed at him accusingly. He didn’t respond, just went back to untying and pulling off his tie. Lottie began to laugh, rolling around on his bed.

Louis didn’t have a good response, so he just continued to blush and mess with his hair again.

Lottie quieted down and got up off the bed. When she reached Louis, she unbuttoned his second button. “Show off your chest tattoo like this, Lou. Whoever the lucky omega is, he won’t be able to resist you.”

“Thanks, Lottie,” he muttered as she reached her arms up and hugged him. “Don’t stay out too late, okay?” She and Tommy were going out on a date, and Louis didn’t want to have to lie to his mum to cover up for her if she stayed out all night. She was still sixteen, and unmated; he was an understanding big brother, but he wasn’t _that_ understanding. She nodded and grabbed her phone off his bed before leaving the room so he could finish getting ready.

When he was sure he was done fussing with his suit and hair, he grabbed one of the sets of keys for the AirBnB and his wallet. He texted Liam to say he was on his way and headed out.

Louis chose to walk to the ballroom where the mixer was being held, simply because it was nice out and it would help him calm down a bit. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his suit pants before checking the time again, just to be sure he wasn’t too early.

He climbed the grand staircase of the hotel to the mezzanine level where he was greeted, once again, by Perrie’s smiling face. Her hair was down and curled, and her makeup was slightly more vampy than it had been earlier that morning. She was a welcome sight and immediately calmed his nerves a bit.

“Hi, love! Louis, wasn’t it?” She asked.

He nodded, “Yeah, good memory.”

She grinned ruefully, “Let’s just say when dealing with more than a hundred alphas, I remember the nice ones.”

Right. A hundred alphas. All of them his competition. Louis had been so focused on the omega from earlier, everything else had kind of faded to the background. His alpha instincts - that he usually had much more control over - flared and the hair on the back of his neck bristled. If Perrie sensed a change in his pheremonal state, she didn’t say anything.

Her smile softened and she handed him another packet of information before sending him on his way.

The doors behind her were propped open and Louis could see colored lights flashing. This was going to be exactly as cheesy as he had expected. He blew out a breath and entered the ballroom.

While it _was_ cheesy, there was also nice lounge furniture and cocktail tables placed strategically around the room, and there were even a few semi-private booths closed off from the rest of the room by heavy curtains.

All of it in the name of mating as many pairs as possible. He cringed a bit thinking of his effortlessly sexy and chic omega here.

No. Not his omega. Louis didn’t even know his name. He shook his head before reaching into his pocket to grab his phone to text Liam.

He made it halfway through the message before Liam saved him. After they greeted each other again and made somewhat forced small talk about how nervous they were, they both looked around the room, lacking in conversation topics. Louis probably would have been a bit more eloquent, but he couldn’t forget the way Liam had admired the same omega that Louis had earlier.

Once again, Louis was saved as some lads from their team waved them over to where they had camped out at one of the cocktail tables. As they moved away from the entrance of the ballroom to where it was more densely populated, the smell of pheromones got thicker and thicker. It was similar to how the gym had smelled earlier, but this time it was a mix of both alpha and omega, and it was a little overwhelming.

Louis tried to breathe through his mouth as the stench of alpha at the table threatened to drown him.

His teammates began to banter about all of the messages they had gotten through the app and how many were mutual or not. Who was meeting up with who, and who was hoping to get at least some action by the end of the night. All of it was beginning to be a bit much for Louis, not that he was surprised. He had tuned them all out and was just considering pretending to go get a drink when they finally said something interesting.

“Fuck, mate, that’s got to be him. One of them has to be Harry Styles. Which one, do you reckon?”

Louis' head snapped up to the entrance of the ballroom. There, in all their glory, were the two omegas from earlier at the match. His mouth went dry and his palms began to sweat again as he studied them.

“Now, I know I said it earlier, but I would definitely put up with a cock if it was attached to one of them and came with Harry Styles’ bank account,” the alpha from the locker room earlier announced to the table. His mates all guffawed and patted him on the back in the absurd way lads do. Louis felt Liam follow him a bit as he began to bodily distance himself from the table.

The mysterious VIP omegas had to have heard them, Louis was sure of it. They were close enough, and he was watching the omega carefully enough that Louis saw him flinch as though he had heard.

And yet, he watched as the omega with the beautiful ringlet curls leaned over and whispered in the ear of his companion. The companion nodded minutely before the two of them turned to approach the table where the team was gathered.

Louis was in such a state of shock that they were approaching them, he wasn’t able to properly prepare for meeting the omega of his dreams.

The raven-haired omega approached the group with the other one trailing close behind, both looking like they had just stepped out of the pages of Vogue.

Louis’ omega - he had given up thinking about him in any other way, his inner alpha was just too set on the concept - had changed into a slightly more formal outfit. He was wearing a black blazer and black skinny trousers, just as Louis was, but somehow he took the look to an entirely different place. Partially by adding a cream silk shirt underneath that was again unbuttoned down to almost the center of his chest. Louis sent up a silent prayer of thanks for Lottie and her slightly unbuttoned shirt idea. Younger sisters definitely had their merits sometimes.

His omega hung back and Louis watched as his mouth ticked up into a slight smirk. His eyes briefly flitted to Louis’ collarbone area before trailing up to make eye contact with Louis for a heartbeat before looking away. The two omegas were up to something; as a harbinger of mischief himself, Louis could tell.

The raven-haired omega approached the table. “Hello,” he addressed the lads with a heavy northern accent. “Which one of you said you wouldn’t mind putting up with a cock if it was attached to this and Harry Styles’ bank account?”

Louis rolled his lips in to contain his laughter as the other alphas at the table just looked stunned.

The raven-haired omega looked around the table as if to prompt each and every one of them to answer. When no one did, he clapped his hands together. “Right! Well, I am Harry Styles, lads, and I’m never going to touch one of your dicks, much less think about looking at them, so have fun wanking for the rest of your miserable lives to the idea of my bank account.”

Louis snickered and could tell Liam was trying hard not to laugh as well. It took a moment for what the omega had said to sink in. The raven-haired omega was Harry Styles. Louis did his best not to let his hopes deflate. At the very least, his omega was definitely connected to the artist in some way.

“I saw your exhibit, mate. It was really great,” Louis cut in over the heavy mix of embarrassment and alpha posturing that had taken over the rest of the team.

Harry glanced over at Louis’ omega before smiling widely at Louis. “Thanks,” he nodded politely. “That’s always nice to hear.”

Louis wanted to continue the discussion, had more he wanted to say, but Harry’s attention had shifted to Liam and Liam looked… dazzled.

Given the way Liam was staring at the raven-haired beauty as though he wanted to worship the ground he walked on, Louis suspected that earlier on the bench had been a giant misunderstanding. Liam had been admiring this omega. Not Louis’.

Louis’ omega, who was now standing alone. And hadn’t participated in the discussion yet. Louis was acutely aware of him as he turned to Liam, hopeful that his friend would at least make an attempt to continue the introductions.  No such luck. Liam was a goner, already deep in conversation with the photographer.

Louis’ omega slowly came closer to Louis. He was still standing a few feet away when he cleared his throat. The entire table of alphas turned to stare at him, but he ignored them all. “Do you want to maybe-?” He cut off his question but nodded his head in the direction of one of the more private booths.

Did Louis want to enter a small intimate space with the most beautiful omega to ever walk this earth?

“Yeah,” he breathed out before turning on his heel and following the omega. They bypassed a few other already occupied booths before the omega finally settled on one in the very back corner of the ballroom.

Louis was still in awe that the omega was even speaking to him, so he let him take the lead in how he wanted to handle the situation, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

The omega made himself comfortable in the space, but as Louis began to follow and start to sit on the bench across from him, the omega stopped him.

“Sorry, but do you mind, erm… closing the curtains?”

Louis gulped silently but nodded, reaching up to untie the heavy drapery. Once the two large pieces of fabric fell closed, they were completely surrounded by shimmery navy fabric, and despite the noise, it truly felt like they were alone.

The omega took a deep breath inhaling and exhaling as though he could finally relax. Louis’ inner alpha secretly hoped that his own scent was contributing to the sense of relaxation, but he was so nervous that it had to be apparent to the omega.

Louis gingerly sat down on the low bench across from the omega. They were finally within each other’s space, and Louis couldn’t help but take his own deep breath to get a hint of the omega’s scent. Lemon. Mint. Thyme. Altogether very summery and pleasant. It was beginning to mix with his own woodsier scent and he couldn’t help but be pleased with how they complimented each other.

He wasn’t sure where to start. “Um, hello,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh for how painfully awkward that had come out.

“Hello,” the omega replied with a cheeky grin and a twinkle in his eye. It was the first time Louis had truly seen him smile aside from the slight smirk when Harry had introduced himself to the team a few minutes before.

“I’m Louis,” he tried again.

“Hi, Louis,” the omega replied, as though he was barely containing his own laughter. His lack of help in getting this conversation going was confusing to say the least. He had been the one to accost Louis and take him to a private booth. Why didn’t he want to talk about anything?

“Okay,” Louis drew out, searching for something else when the omega didn’t offer up his name. “How did you meet Harry Styles?” Aside from the fact that he was an omega, his association with the famous photographer was the one thing Louis knew about him. That, and his unending gorgeousness that Louis still couldn’t ignore, despite how painstakingly awkward this was.

“You know, here and there.” He shrugged, disrupting the curls that brushed his shoulders. He paused for a moment before scrutinizing Louis. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” _Please_ , Louis thought.

“When you found out that was Harry Styles, you looked like you wanted to say something. What was it?” His voice was deep and lovely, rambling, with intermittent pauses. Louis could listen to him talk for hours.

“Oh, well, this is a bit embarrassing if you’re friends with him, but last night my sister dragged me out to see his exhibit,” Louis explained, he could feel the blush rising, but the booth was dark save a few fake candles on the table between them, so hopefully the lack of adequate lighting would save him.

“Dragged?”

“Yeah, she’s sixteen and obsessed with everything fashion, clothes, makeup. She was a bit gaga over his shoots in Vogue. I tend to tune out sometimes when she talks about it, but only because I don’t know what she’s talking about so I lose her train of thought.”

The omega chuckled as if he understood what Louis was trying to articulate. “But you liked it?”

Louis nodded. “Please tell your friend his photographs were beautiful. I’m shit at the right vocabulary, but he made them look like paintings instead of photographs, and you could feel the emotion. There’s one that’s totally dark, but you can see the texture of the jacket…” He trailed off as he thought about the painting that had so entranced him the night before. The model had actually looked a bit like the photographer himself. His brow furrowed as he tried to recall more details of the model’s face.

“Texture of the jacket?” The omega prompted.

Louis shook his head to clear it, “Sorry, yeah. I was just thinking about the photograph. Does Harry ever pose himself?”

The omega’s smile reemerged, a bit sheepish. “Hi, um, I’m Harry Styles,” he said softly before reaching across the decorative table between them to hold his hand out for Louis to shake.

Shocked again for the second time in less than half an hour, Louis reached out by rote and shook the omega’s hand. It was cheesy, it was cliche, it was everything he hated about all of the mating stories he had ever heard, but when they shook hands, their skin touched for the first time and Louis could feel the physical spark between them.

His hair stood on end much the same way it had when Perrie had mentioned how many alphas he had to compete with, but this time the sensation came from an acute awareness of the omega he was talking to: Harry.

Louis’ brain was slowly catching up, as he maintained a light grip on the omega - Harry’s - hand. “Hang on, so your friend over there...?” He wasn’t sure how to articulate what he was thinking.

They were both leaning forward now, hands bridging the space between their bodies. “He pretended to be me, yes.” Harry nodded.

“But,” there were so many questions Louis wanted to ask. “Why?”

Harry shrugged. “We heard that word had got round that I was one of the eligible omegas, which was true, but I actually hate everything about Proving Day? So Zayn came with me. His normal Proving is in Bradford but he lives and works here now mostly. We didn’t set out with the intention of duping anyone. He just likes being… dramatic, I guess. Wanted to make those alphas ‘shit their pants,’ I believe was his exact phrase.”

All of a sudden Louis became consciously aware of the fact that they were still holding hands as they were talking. He blushed again before dropping Harry’s hand, praying his palms hadn’t been too sweaty.

He had more questions, but he also needed a moment. The booth was too intimate, the knowledge of Harry’s real identity and his scent were too overwhelming... or tempting. Maybe both? Louis couldn’t decide.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked. Louis could tell his question had startled Harry, but Harry had startled him first, he thought petulantly.

“Sure, I’d love some water.”

Louis stood up abruptly and parted the curtains. When he was safely on the other side, he closed them again. He told himself it was to protect Harry’s privacy, but he also knew his own inner alpha; he wanted to close the curtains so that Harry would be tucked away, where no one could find him or hurt him.

Louis needed to get a grip. He had known Harry for all of five minutes and already he was letting his inner alpha turn him into some kind of crazy knothead driven by instinct alone.

He took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. All around him the party was in full swing with pheromones floating everywhere. Even though he had only just left Harry, he longed for the simple sweetness of his scent - of their scents combined - instead of this muddle.

As quickly as he could, he walked over to the bar and got them two large glasses of water. Louis was glad Harry wanted to remain sober as well. Alcohol could have made him less nervous, but if he was getting a chance with Harry, and it seemed like he was, he really didn’t want to mess it up.

When he got back to their booth, he slipped through the curtains to see Harry sitting, playing on his phone the same way he had been all day during the match. Louis’ spirits only had a moment to fall before Harry was turning the phone off and pocketing it, smiling up at Louis.

Louis moved to place the waters on the table, but when he went to sit down across from Harry again, Harry stopped him abruptly with a hand on his wrist.

“Sorry, Louis, but you should… Can you, maybe, sit over here?” Harry asked tentatively, indicating the empty space on the lounger next to him.

Louis cleared his throat, “Yeah, of course.” His pulse was rabbiting while he moved to do as Harry asked, settling onto the plush cushion, allowing himself to be enveloped in a much thicker cloud of Harry’s scent. It was a little different now from when Louis had first smelled it, laced with something a tiny bit muskier. Louis was doing his best to subtly inhale a little deeper, not recognizing the change.

They both sat with their bodies turned towards each other, and Harry reached across the distance between them to take Louis’ hand in his.

Harry played with Louis’ knuckles, watching the movement of his fingers to avoid eye contact with Louis. “Louis, I really hope I’m not reading this incorrectly-”

“You’re not.” Louis cut him off breathlessly. Everything in his body was tuned to this omega, _his_ omega if there was a God.

Harry made eye contact with him, finally, before leaning in. He didn’t go for the kiss, but instead went for the defined space at the crux of Louis’ neck and jaw, and scented him.

Harry was scenting Louis the way a mate would. It was incredibly forward, a bit rude even, and Louis was so hard he thought for sure he was going to pop a knot right there.

The dampness of Harry’s breath collected on his skin and the patch where Harry had nuzzled felt cooler when Harry pulled away a bit.

“Harry,” Louis groaned. Though Harry had pulled his face out of Louis’ neck, his body was still tucked up against Louis’ right side, his chest plastered to Louis’ arm.

“Mmm,” Harry hummed instead of answering. The hum was so deep and sated, it was as close to a purr as Louis had ever heard before.

“Did you like that?” he whispered, letting his instincts take over. His inner alpha wanted to make sure Harry’s omega was happy, would do anything to make sure Harry was content.

Harry nodded, biting his lip. “Do you want to get out of here?” Harry asked.

Louis eyed the untouched waters on the table, gave a brief thought to Liam with his fake Harry Styles, and stood up as fast as he could, dragging Harry up with him by the hand. “Please,” he begged.

Harry snickered at him, but led the way through the ballroom and out the entrance into the lobby. Louis hadn’t seen Liam or Harry’s friend in the crowd, but he also hadn’t been trying that hard.

By the time they emerged into the lobby Harry was the one dragging Louis behind him. He blew right past the registration table where Louis could see Perrie sitting with her mate. The women looked up as they passed due to the commotion they were making, and Louis blushed deeply when Perrie winked at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Louis chose to concentrate on the way Harry’s curls and his cute little bum bounced on their way down the grand staircase instead.

The outside air was so refreshing, Louis was glad when Harry came to a stop on the front steps of the hotel instead of going straight to the taxi stand.

“What shall we do?” Harry asked Louis lightly, as though he hadn’t just scented Louis then staked as much obvious claim on him as he could given that he was an omega.

“Um…” Louis hadn’t thought about the fact that ‘getting out of there’ meant ‘going somewhere’ and he didn’t want to bring Harry back to the AirBnB where Lottie was. “We could walk for a bit?”

Harry nodded and they set off in the general direction of Louis’ borrowed flat. Having had a moment to process how the rest of their evening could pan out, he wanted to bring up a concern, but he also didn’t want to sound like he was rejecting Harry.

“Harry, I know this makes me seem fickle, and I know you asked if we could get out of there, but would it be alright with you if we just… took everything slow?”

Harry squeezed Louis’ hand, “That would be nice, actually,” he replied. Louis let his breath out in a whoosh.

Between Harry scenting him and his confession, the ice was very effectively broken between them, and they proceeded to walk around the relatively quiet streets for almost an hour before reaching the door of the AirBnB.

They had spent the hour getting to know each other beyond just instinct. They talked about their families and Harry’s career, Louis’ job, their lives. Catching each other up on the time they had spent apart in life before coming together.

The time had come for them to part ways, maybe have a goodbye kiss. But the thing was, now that Louis had a taste of Harry’s company, he wasn’t ready to let go.

They were standing in each other’s spaces, lips teasing the inch or two of air that was separating them, when Louis whispered, “I don’t know if Lottie is back, but do you want to come up?”

Harry nodded before closing the distance between them for the first time. His lips were as soft and plump as they looked, teasing Louis’ with their pretty pink berry taste. Louis never wanted to taste anything else but Harry ever again.

Harry drew his hands up to pull Louis in closer, cupping Louis’ jaw to keep him in place. Louis held out as long as he could until his lungs were burning from the lack of oxygen.

“Upstairs,” he said dazedly, drawing away from Harry to avoid temptation. “We should go upstairs.”

He fished out his keys before staring at them trying to decide which one was correct. Surely the right one had to be on there. They all looked like gold blobs to him and would continue to do so as long as Harry insisted on standing behind him, scenting him again.

“Lou,” Harry moaned as his teeth scraped the shell of Louis’ ear. Louis dropped the key ring.

Harry laughed at him as he bent down to retrieve them, trying the first key his fingers landed on hoping it was right. It was.

 

When Lottie came back another hour or so later, it was to Louis and Harry wrapped up under a blanket on the couch, pink-cheeked and guilty looking.

She stared at them, judgingly. “I’m sorry Proving was so unsuccessful for you this year, Lou,” she teased. Two could play that game.

“Lottie, this is Harry Styles. Harry Styles, this is my sister who thinks she’s a right smart arse.”

“Hiiii,” Harry drew out before removing his hand from somewhere deep in the blankets to give her a little wave as though she hadn’t just caught them snogging like all of her teenage friends.

“Harry what?” she asked, jaw hanging down.

“I heard you liked my exhibit. That was very nice of you.”

“Sure,” she replied breathlessly. Instead of asking any more questions like Louis expected, she turned and went to her bedroom in a daze.

Louis waited until he heard the door close. “That went… well.” He and Harry both stared at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing.

Once they calmed down, Louis pushed one of Harry’s curls back behind his ear. “Can I ask you something, love?”

“Anything.”

“Earlier at the match, you looked as though Proving Day was the last place on earth you wanted to be. And then later in the booth you said you hated it. Why is that?”

Harry’s eyelids flicked down as he studied Louis’ chest, tracing over the letters there with the tip of his finger. “I didn’t want to go. I had to, of course, but the whole thing is incredibly old-fashioned and built on these ridiculous rituals, and no one gets to talk to each other or get to know each other. We also found out that the rumor got around about me being there, so I was worried all anyone would see was the name.”

Louis hummed in response, “I get that.”

“But,” Harry interjected, “the old-fashioned way got me you, so as much as I disagree with it on principle, I’m not sorry I had to do it.” He pressed a soft kiss to Louis’ nose to punctuate his statement.

“Me either,” Louis whispered.

 

The sunlight shone through the large windows the next morning and Louis watched as Harry buried himself further into his nest of blankets. At some point during the night, Harry had managed to steal all of them. The chill had woken Louis up, but he was content to just sit there and watch Harry sleep. His inner alpha was a lot creepier than Louis had expected when faced with a soon to be mate.

They hadn’t had the conversation about mating explicitly, despite staying awake until all hours of the morning talking about everything and nothing, but Louis was in this for the long haul. He was more sure than ever that Harry was his mate.

Louis had always thought about finding his true mate through the Proving ceremonies, but nothing had prepared him for Harry. Brilliant, artistic, dorky Harry with his long legs and his silly jokes, and stories that never seemed to have an ending.

He got really lucky.


End file.
